Stop Criticizing Me or I'll Blow Up the Internet!

There is something strangely fascinating about the tactics that anti-vaccine cranks use. Reading their various rants and how they react to critical refutation of their arguments, it becomes very clear, very quickly, that these are angry people. Ruled by their emotions, I wonder if they ever actually take the time to distance themselves from anything to think it through before reacting. We've seen it time and time again. Some of the things they say and do, particularly when they've had at least a little time to consider their actions, just astound me.

The latest in the "And you thought that was a good idea?" line of actions comes from Hollie. Hollie has a Facebook page called Motherhood: The Truth. (I have this image of a bunch of young moms sitting around a table with cards in their hands: "I play 'Timeout', followed by 'Warrior Mommy'.") On this site, apparently after some folks posted comments taking her to task for her anti-vaccine claims, vaccine-related posts are taboo (unless, of course, they're anti-vaccine...then it's okay). At any rate, the folks on the Anti Vax Wall Of Shame (AVWOS) countered her claims, which Hollie didn't like. No, not at all. So what did she do? She targeted one of the members of AVWOS.

In the Midst of an Outbreak: Better to Immunize or Not?

The flu season is well and fully upon us. In the U.S., the season generally begins in October and runs through May, with a peak sometime in February. There are a number of factors that may play a role in this cyclic nature of influenza, ranging from people being indoors more in the winter, thereby creating greater opportunity for the virus to spread, to less UV radiation that would otherwise kill the virus. Whatever the reason, the cycle is rather predictable.

This season, the flu has hit hard and early:

Source: CDC Influenza Weekly Report, January 14, 2013

The red line is the current season. Unlike most seasons, we're taking a track similar to the 2003-2004 season, with an early peak. This has led a number of regions to declare a public health emergency, meaning that states can release more resources to fight the spread of disease, such as allowing expansion of immunization clinics.

With increased rates, is this sort of declaration helpful? With influenza already in full swing, will expanding immunization help, or is it a bit of a double-edged sword?

Taken for Granted

We take a lot of things for granted. And by we, I mean the majority of gainfully employed people living in developed nations. Shelter is a given. Food is available whenever we want. Clothing, transportation, entertainment are all available to us, generally any time we need them. We don't give these things much thought.

We also take our health for granted. Sure, we get sick and injured now and then, but we have ready access to health care (at least, those of us who can afford private insurance or who live in countries with universal care). And above all, many take for granted the fact that we no longer need to worry about many diseases, like polio, tetanus or measles.

Not everyone in the world is so, lucky, however. For instance, let's take a look at Pakistan. Pakistan has seen quite a number of problems related to health care and disease.

I Have to Wear a Mask? Unfair!

I recently discovered something that disturbed me a bit, but which I did not find altogether surprising. In December, the Massachusetts Nursing Association (MNA) issued a position statement opposing mandatory masking of health care workers as a means of preventing the spread of influenza. The statement comes as many hospitals in the state are beginning to require that those health care workers who do not get vaccinated against the flu must wear surgical masks to help prevent the transmission of the virus. In some hospitals, refusal to either get vaccinated or wear a mask while at work can result in disciplinary action. This does not seem all that unreasonable, to me, and I've touched on the use of masks before (for example here and here). It is another tool in the fight to make our health care facilities that much safer for patients, so to see an organization representing hundreds of thousands of health care personnel opposing measures that would help achieve that goal simply boggles my mind.

Reading the statement makes me think that the opposition stems mainly from those who do not want to get vaccinated and find that the masks are uncomfortable. Images of petulant teens whinging about the unfairness of it all spring to mind ("Spinach or broccoli for my vegetable? Why can't I just skip the veggies for dinner! It's not fair!"). Of course, the MNA doesn't outright take this approach; it's just the impression I got. And I won't even get into how these policies generally apply to more than just nurses (e.g., all other health care workers, and may even extend to non-employees, such as volunteer greeters and so on).

No, they try to claim that science supports their opposition.

It's That Time o' Year

As the title says, it's that time of year again. Many holidays just happen to fall right around now: Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanza, Saturnalia, Festivus, Solstice and so on. Some of these involve the giving of gifts. Some do not. Some parts of the world lie covered in snow and ice (unless you happen to be in certain parts of New England this year and haven't seen any dusting of snow stick around...not that I'm bitter or anything). Some celebrate with a glass of wine in the sun. It also just happens to be the end of the tax year.

I brought this up a couple years ago and thought it could use a bit of a repeat.

Sandy Hook and Specious Reasoning

Most of my readers are probably from the U.S., but for those outside of the country who may not have heard yet, this past Friday, December 14, a 20-year-old man shot and killed his mother in her home and, with a Bushmaster .233-calibre semi-automatic rifle and pistols that his mother had purchased legally, went on to an elementary school, where he shot and killed twenty children ages 6-7 years old and six adults, including the school's principal. Searches of "Adam Lanza" and "Sandy Hook" will immediately bring up post after post on the massacre, as well as hundreds, if not thousands, of comments on whether there should be tighter gun controls put in place or whether more guns would make incidents like these less likely to occur.

I've been thinking about this event quite a bit and debating whether or not to write a post about it. This is one of those topics that, no matter what you say, you're sure to get someone disagreeing with you, if not taking a more aggressive stance. It's a hot button issue. So, I'm going to try to lay out my thoughts in as reasonable a manner as possible to try to engender at least respectful discourse.

Calling on Congress to Do the Wrong Thing

Oh, Age of Autism. Once again, this rag that calls itself a web newspaper of the autism epidemic ignores science and providing real help and support for families with autism in favor of unsubstantiated hyperbole and appeals to politics. Since they do not have actual science behind their claims, they try to use political means to get their way, freely ignoring reality.

Feeling that, perhaps, they made some small victories after the recent Congressional hearing on autism, the fact-challenged are making some demands suggestions to our legislative body. In a post titled Top 10 List for Congress Post Autism Hearing, contributor Laura Hayes addresses Congressman Bill Posey (R-FL) and includes a list of ten things she would like Congress to do. I'm not quite certain whether to chuckle at how inane it is or worry, since the hearing included more than one science-challenged Congresscritter.

Get Out and Vote

This morning, I headed out the door early to make sure I could get to my polling place before the doors opened and ensure I wouldn't have to wait in line very long to vote. This election is very important, and not just because of the presidential race. Senate and House races can have a very, very big impact on where this country goes and how we interact with the rest of the world. And don't slouch on the local stuff, either. What you decide at your city or state level can work its way up the chain. Be smart. Get informed. But most importantly, vote!

Edited to add: If you are having trouble at the polling place and someone is keeping you from voting or in any way getting in the way of your right to vote, report them to the Department of Justice. On Twitter @TheJusticeDept. Call 1-800-253-3931 or go to their website.

Mark Geier On His Last Leg

Dr. Mark Robin Geier, about whom I've written about quite a bit, just can't get a break. Geier is the physician who, after reading a single lab study showing that mercury binds with testosterone when in a hot benzene environment (blogger Prometheus has a good write-up of this), thought that this explained how to treat autism. At the time Geier and his son, David (who has gotten in trouble for pretending to be a doctor), latched onto the two ideas that the mercury in thimerosal and testosterone played a role in autism causation. The former is now discredited, after numerous studies comparing autism rates in children who received thimerosal-containing vaccines and those who did not, as well as failed court cases based on this idea. The latter does have some validity to it, but only insofar as the fetus is exposed to high concentrations of testosterone in the womb. The way Geier, père et fils, decided they could treat autism based on this study that bears no resemblance to the environment of the human body, was to use the chemical castrating drug Lupron to lower testosterone levels in kids, followed by dosing with chelating drugs to remove mercury.

It was this treatment protocol that got the Geiers into trouble, first in Maryland. Dr. Geier was found to have been misdiagnosing autistic children with precocious puberty so he could get insurance companies to pay for his treatment, which also happens to be in violation of FDA regulations. Lupron is not approved by the FDA for use in the treatment of autism, so his spurious precocious puberty diagnoses got around this, as well. At any rate, this protocol, among other problems with how he ran his clinic, resulted in his license being suspended. The investigation also turned up that his son, David, practiced medicine without a license by making diagnoses and prescribing various tests and procedures to patients. The original suspension led to nearly every other state in which Mark Geier was licensed to suspend his licenses. Then in September and October ofearlier this year, Maryland, Indiana and Washington went beyond suspension and permanently revoked his license. Hawaii, Illinois and Missouri, however, have been dragging their feet.

Until now.

Demystifying Vaccine Ingredients - MSG

Telling people what a product contains can be a bit of a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it introduces transparency and empowers people to learn more about the products they use or plan to use. On the other, most people have absolutely no clue what those ingredients do or why they're used. This often leads to gross misunderstanding and misplaced fear. We see this frequently with packaged foods. Any ingredient that is hard to pronounce or sounds all chemically is viewed askance. This is compounded when it comes to medicinal drugs, which use the isolated, purified substance that performs a very specific function; the unpurified origins frequently contain hundreds or thousands of other chemicals that may lead to unwanted effects (e.g., compare asiprin to raw willow bark or digoxin to whole foxglove).

Vaccines are a very prominent example of this fear of chemicals (and just to get this out of the way, everything in the world is some chemical or combination of chemicals). Earlier this year, I wrote about one vaccine ingredient, formaldehyde, in an effort to clear up why and how it is used in vaccines, as well as showing that the amounts found in vaccines are safe. Just the Vax and Science-Based Medicine also have good write-ups on the preservative. Recently, someone asked me about another ingredient: monosodium glutamate (MSG).